A Dysfunctional Desmin Mutation in a Patient with Severe Generalized Myopathy
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA Vol. 95, pp. 11312–11317, September 1998 Genetics A dysfunctional desmin mutation in a patient with severe generalized myopathy ANA M. MUN˜OZ-MA´RMOL*†‡,GERALDINE STRASSER‡§,MARCOS ISAMAT*†,PIERRE A. COULOMBE¶,YANMIN YANG§, i XAVIER ROCA†,ELENA VELA*†,JOSE´ L. MATE†,JAUME COLL ,MARI´A TERESA FERNA´NDEZ-FIGUERAS†, JOSE´ J. NAVAS-PALACIOS†,AURELIO ARIZA†, AND ELAINE FUCHS§** *Fundacio´n Echevarne, 08037 Barcelona, Spain; Departments of †Pathology and iNeurology, Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol, Universitat Auto´noma de Barcelona, 08916 Badalona, Barcelona, Spain; ¶Department of Biological Chemistry, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21205; and §Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637 Contributed by Elaine Fuchs, July 29, 1998 ABSTRACT Mice lacking desmin produce muscle fibers desmin functions in cellular transmission of both active and with Z disks and normal sarcomeric organization. However, passive force (14, 15). the muscles are mechanically fragile and degenerate upon Desminopathies are a heterogeneous group of human myop- repeated contractions. We report here a human patient with athies characterized by abnormal aggregations of desmin in severe generalized myopathy and aberrant intrasarcoplasmic skeletal andyor cardiac muscle fibers (for review, see ref. 16). The accumulation of desmin intermediate filaments. Muscle tissue clumping of desmin in muscle cells of these patients bears a from this patient lacks the wild-type desmin allele and has a striking resemblance to the keratin aggregates that accumulate in desmin gene mutation encoding a 7-aa deletion within the degenerating epithelial cells of various human keratin disorders coiled-coil segment of the protein.
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